'Drop Dead' by Charlie Higson

Working on a case of suspected infidelity, private investigators Marty Hopkirk and Jeff Randall come to blows with the cheating husband, Kenneth Crisby. They are then hired by the famous and pretentious artist Gordon Stylus, who wants them to watch over his wife Annette, whom he believes to be emotionally unstable, and fears that she may be about to commit suicide. With only a day to go before Marty’s marriage to waitress Jeannie Hurst, the two detectives attend a party at Stylus’ mansion, where the artist gives a demonstration of extreme performance art. However, during the course of the assignment, Marty is hit by a car, apparently driven Annette, and the two plunge over a cliff to their deaths on the rocks below. As a grieving Jeff and Jeannie investigate how Marty died, their lives too become endangered. Luckily for Jeff, he is helped by the ghost of his dead partner, whom only he can see and hear…

Vic Reeves (Marty Hopkirk), Bob Mortimer (Jeff Randall), Emila Fox (Jeannie Hurst), Melissa Knatchbull (Wendy Gill), Charles Dance (Kenneth Crisby), David Tennant (Gordon Stylus), Hanna Miles (Annette Stylus), Jessica Stevenson (Felia Siderova), Steve Pemberton (Sgt. Liddel), Mark Gatiss (Insp. Large), Paul Shearer (Man in restaurant), Gemma Page (Woman in restaurant), Martin Wimbush (Head Waiter), Michael Knighton (Workman), Brian Williams (Arty Type at Party), Joscelyn Best (Young Artist), Charlie Higson (Party Guest)*
*Uncredited

Directed by Mark Mylod

TX:
UK: 18th March, 2000

Notes:
*Featuring Jeff Randall, the late Marty Hopkirk and Jeannie Hurst

*Songs: ‘My Body May Die’ by Pulp vs. The Swingle Sisters; ‘Confusion’ by James; ‘Carnival of Drums’ by Talvin Singh